Press.



G. KELLY.

PRESS.

PLIOATION FILED JULY 25. 1907.

Patented May 24, 1910.

I will be obvious that even with GEORGE KELLY, OF MINERAL POINT,WISCONSIN.

PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May Application filed July 25, 1907. Serial No. 385,676.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE KELLY, a citizen of the United States,residing'at Mineral Point, in the-county of Iowa and State of Wisconsin,have invented a new and useful lress, of which the following is aspecificatlon.

In the manufacture of thin strips, sheets and plates, for instance,vulcanized insulating boards, slabs, and the like, it has hereto orebeen difiicult to press, heat and dry a, large number of the same in onebecause of thebulk of the division ates. Moreover these structures areexceedingly expensive.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide means whichwill eflectively press, heat and dry insula-ting' slabs, boards, sheetsor other material, said means permitting the employment of acomparatively great number of combined heating and division plates,which are thin, and will consequently allow a large number of slabs orsheets to be simultaneously acted upon.

Heretofore in the process of vulcanizing thin sheets of material asabove referred to, it has been found necessary to use steamheatedplaten-s, that is, a series of hollow boxes into which steam isconducted, these boxes being interposed between the sheets of material.These steam-heated platens are expensive, they are relatively diflicultto connect up with steam supply ipes, they must be made heavy toWithstan the steam pressure and the com ressin force, and they have tobe made of oonsi erable thickness-each hollow platen in practice beinabout four inches thick. As above stateti such presses are expensive, ina ratio dependin upon the number of platens they use. ere presses haveonly two latens, formed by the follower and the bed plate, the pressesare in no way adapted for vulthin sheets of material in largequantities, for the reason that 0111 one sheet at a time can be properlypr and vulress,

oanized. If more sheets are placed between the latens, the outer onesare properly drie but the inner ones are either not dried sufiicieutlyat their middles, or then the margins of the sheets are burned beforethe interior of the sheets is properly dried. It larger presses havinginterposed steam-heated platens, it will be impossible to press andvulcanize any quantity of thin sheets at a time and properly heat them,for the reason that the sheets must be separated by platens four inchesin thickness. Hence, only a few sheets at the best can be dried inthese'presses, because for every two sheets 12 inches s ace must betaken up by three platens.

f course, a plurality of sheets may be placed between separated platens,but when this is done the same difiiculty occurs as above stated,namely, that the sheets are unequally heated and dried, and that, ifthemiddle sheets are properly heated, the outer sheets are very liable tobe burned or heated too much. There cannot be, under thesecircumstances, any uniform heating of the sheets. These thin flat sheetsof vulcanized board or insulator material are particularly troublesometo dry because of their tendency to warp, and heretoforebecause of thefact that presses could not be used practically for this purpose-it hasbeen customar to dry the sheets by spreading. them out an weighting themdown, a step naturally rezgiliiring a very large floor s ace and a cateal of work, with hardly t e best resu ts.

I overcome these difficulties and render possible the use of a press fordrying a multiplicity of thin flat sheets by using, with an ordinarypress, a series of thin flat electrically-heated plates. A sheetofmaterial is firstplaced in the press and then a sheet of thin metal,then a sheet of material and then another sheet of metal, and so onuntil the press is filled. As these metal sheets 01' plates are verythin, they practically take up very little room, and, as a consequence,the press may be filled with a. large number of sheets of material to bevulcanized. Each of these interposed plates of metal is conneeted to asuitable source of electric current to heat the same, and it will beobvious that each of the plates will be heated evenly over its entires'urtace and that this heat may be re ulated to just the requiredamount. It wi 1 be plain, therefore, that every. sheet of vulcanizlnmaterial in the press will be uniformly eated without regard to itsposition in the press, that the heat will be distributed over the entiresurface of the sheet, thatin consequence of the uniformity of the heat,all sheets willbe dried in the same length of time without danger ofsome sheets being burned and some under-dried, and, that, therefore, theentire process will be very much expedited. It Wlll also be seen thatthe sheets are dried and held under of press wit compression at the sametime so that they cannot warp, and that far less floor s ace is requiredthan with the process now fo owed.

It will also be plain that my invention may tion is illustrated in theaccompanyingdrawing, which is a side-elevationof a press, constructed inaccordance with the present invention, and showing the electric currentsupplying means diagrammatically.

In the embodiment illustrated, a press is employed comprising a frame 1,in which are mounted relatively movable pressing members 2 and 3. Thesemembers may be of any suitable structure or type well known to the art,and in the present embodiment,

the movable member is uppermost and is operated by hydraulic devices 4..

Located between the pressing members are a plurality of comparativelythin division plates 5 which constitute electrical heaters, and aretherefore preferably made of suitable resistance material. Through theseplates a current of electricity is passed, and the slabs, sheets orother material, shown at 6, are placed between them.

While the electric current may be supplied to the plates in differentways, in the referred form of construction, spaced con uctor bars 7 and8 are located at each end of the press longitudinally of the path ofmovement of the plates, and leads '9 and 10, connected respectively tothe conductors 7 and 8, extend from a suitable enerator 11. In the leads9 and 10 are locate an ammeter 12, a voltmeter l3, a-suitable switch 14,and fuses 15. -The generator, which is preferabl of the alternatingtype, is provided a suitable rheostat 16. and an exciter 17.

The current may be supplied from the conductors? and 8 to the heating orresisting plates 5 in a plurality of ways. Thus in the embodimentdisclosed, collars 18 are slidably mounted on the conductors, and havesuitable sockets 19, in which connecting devices 20 may be engaged, saiddevices being also connected in sockets 21 formed in the ends of theplates. In the structure disclosed, the plates are located in series,and therefore one of the conducting devices 20 is connected to one ofthe collars 18 on one of the conductors 7, the other end being connectedto the u permost plate. The lowermost plate in l' e manner, isconnectductor 8.

V the plates,

ed at its op osite end with the opposite conlhe adjacent lates arefurthermore connected b fiexi le conductors 22. It will thus be evi entthat when the circuit is closed, the current will pass throu h all anddry the material laced between them. At the same time, the material willbe pressed and held thoroughly dry, and in case material that can bevulcanized is placed between the plates, said material will bevulcanized.

One of the particular advantages secured in the present structure is theequal heating,

drying and vulcanizing action with thin "sheets the central properlydried and vulcanize secured, for (portionsare completely and heating thesame, wil =-heatin flattened condition until Y through without the outerportions or faces being tage follows from the use of relatively thincombined heating and divlsion plates, in

that the capacity of the press in which the burned. Another importantadvanplates are substituted for steam heated platens, is materiallyincreased. For instance, in a hydraulic press having a sufiicient numberof steam heated platens for compressing about four sheets of rubbermattin or the like, it is possible, by the use of p ates, to compress asmany as fifty sheets of vulcanized insulating boards, and in somepresses the output in the number of sheets canbe increased twenty ormore times.

Instead of arranging the plates in series, as disclosed, they may becennected in multiple in which case, it is evident that each plate isseparately connected to one of the conductors 7, a'nd the oppositeconductor 8, the additional collars 18 being employed for this pur ose.Thus it will be evident that the elec fie current can be supplied to theplates in a variety of ways, and simple means is thus provided, wherebya la e number of sheets, slabs, boards and the hie can be thoroughlyheated, dried, and at the same time held in flattened condition.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation, andmany advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art, without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, andminor details of construction, may be resorted to without departin fromthe spirit or sacrificing any of the a vantages of the invention.

Havin thus fully described my invention, what I c aim as new, and desireto secure by LettersPatent, is

1. In a press of the class described, the

combination of upper and lower relativelyperature on the assage of anelectric cur rent therethrou ll, said sheets being arranged alternate ywith the material to be compressed and dried, and means for connectingthe sheets in circuit with a source of electro-motive force wherebyopposite sides of the plates in contact with the material aresubstantially uniformly heated.

' 2. The combination with a drying press having upper and lower platens,of a plurality of movable division plates adapted to be located betweenand in the midst of the material being pressed, said plates being flatand smooth on opposite sides and composed of thin imperforate solidhomogeneous sheets of electrically-resistin material with means wherebya current 0 electricity may be passed into each of them.

3. In a drying press, opposed platens, a series of thin solldhomogeneous metal plates of electricall -resisting material adapted tobe interpose alternately between the sheets of material to be dried, andmeans for separately and uniformly heating said plates by connectingthem to a source of electrical energy.

4. In a press for drying and pressing sheets of material, thecombination With pressing platens, of a plurality of thin fiat solidimperforate drying plates of material having electrical resistance,adapted to be interposed between layers composed of material being driedand in contact therewith, and movable conductingmeans connected to theseveral plates for heating the same.

5. In a press for drying and pressing sheets of material, thecombination with pressing platens, of a plurality of fiat solidimperforate drying and pressing plates of material having electricalresistance adapted to be interposed between layers of said material andin contact therewith, an electrical conductor located longitudinally ofthe path of movement of the plates, and a conducting device connected toeach plate and freely movable with the same, sald device having a freelymovable engagement with the conductor.

6. In a press for drying and pressing sheets of material, thecombination with pressing platens, of a plurality of flat solidimperforate drying and pressing plates of material having electricalresistance, said plates ada ted to be interposed between the layers of te material being dried, electrical conductors disposed longitudinally ofthe ath of movement of the plates, connections between the conductorsand certain plates adapted to permit a free movement of the plates, andelectrical connections directly between the plates.

7. In a press for drying and pressing sheets of material, thecombination with pressing platens, of a plurality of fiat solidnnperforate drying and pressing plates of material having electricalresistance, adapted to be interposed between layers of the materialbeing heated, conducting rods arranged at the ends of the plates andconnected to a source of electricity, devices freely slidable on theconductors and connected to the plates, connections between theconductors and certain of the plates to effect the movement of saiddevices with the plates, and flexible electrical connections between theplates.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE KELLY. Witnesses:

PHIL ALLEN, Jr., FRANK E. HANSCOM.

